Known today for its measurement tools, Moat has come a long way. Back in 2011, the company created an ad search engine which made it easy for people to find ads for certain companies. Fast forward, the Moat then took calculated steps to “approve” brands to use their product. Add in ad tech buzzwords like “viewability,” it’s quite easy to see how the brand has grown into something much more. Digiday breaks down Moat’s meteoric rise in ad tech.

With business models constantly changing, advertisers need to know exactly where their dollars are going. For starters they should take a more active approach in the auditing process. Once this is done advertisers will be able to access the right inventory and in return build better relationships with publishers. According to AdExchanger these are viable steps to improve control, including building relationships with third-party verification companies.

In an effort to control their own data and strategies, a number of brands are taking their programmatic efforts in-house. Not wanting to be left out, this may be a great time for agencies to reconsider their current business model with brands. MediaPost suggests that a hybrid model may be the new future of programmatic. A hybrid model could solve transparency problems for brands while still allowing agencies to focus on complex tasks such as data science modeling.